Author's Note: Things are really starting to go wrong for the Capitol now as we reach the beginning of the end of these stories.

….

Outcomes

"So many of them have died, Finn. Most of our candidates from the last few years. Brutus and I told them that if they ended up in Eight it would be dangerous. But I don't think we knew just how bad it would be."

"They're ready to go, Lyme. Calico is having to try to hold people back. I don't think even she anticipated how successful it would be. They destroyed the peacekeepers on both fronts until the Capitol Guard arrived. I've spoken to her and Cecelia since. They've apologised for our losses."

"I appreciate the sentiment. But I can't help but feel like it's a waste."

"Isn't it all?" Finnick asked. "The Games, the training we do, the men and women Two ships off for peacekeeping duties."

"It is. So how much longer?"

"We go when everyone can keep up. You know Two isn't there yet. You've said that yourself."

Lyme sighed, "I know. I'm starting to get impatient. Especially now the others have expectations. Enobaria is beyond ready and wants more."

"We all do. We have agitation in Five and Nine, finally. But that won't be enough. Thirteen still won't commit either."

"What more do we have to do?"

"We keep building and you keep converting people."

"I've made good progress. You should have seen Brutus when we found out just how bad it had been for our boys and girls in Eight. He was ready to storm the Justice Building. I had to hold him back. His work, our work, and they've died. Marcus has cracked too."

"Marcus?"

"Yes, you know his family have longstanding connections to the peacekeepers. So, he knew them beyond the Institute too. His brothers issued their guns. They died and he was raging. Went mad at Brutus, wanting answers. You've seen how our boys are, they look to us for answers still. Marcus wanted his mentor to make things make sense and Brutus has his first convert."

"Just like that?"

"People are angry. We need to capitalise on it. I think there will be a protest in the streets over the deaths soon."

"Good. Make sure it happens. I'm sure Enobaria will love some agitation."

"I'll get her on to it. Marcus is starting a fund for the families. Brutus and I will donate generously. We need to prove that Two cares when the Capitol doesn't. How did your lot take it? You suffered too."

"About half of the Centre graduates who went to Eight were killed. Noah and Ossian took it hard. Rowan went into a spin. Song and Aquaria were typically stoic and accepting. Annie's peace and calm over everything held it together."

"It's the outside perspective. Genius move, keeping her outside of the main play."

"She's the sanest of us all."

"You've given her time and space to recover. Nobody else has had that. I presume she keeps you on the straight and narrow?"

"We wouldn't be where we are without her. I would not be a leader without her."

"Well, you look after her and keep her a secret."

"Song and I have that covered."

"I expect you do."

"We'll do things our way in Four, something to remember the dead. Ceremony at the Centre, public funerals when we get them back. We'll compensate the families too. I need to link up with Gloss to make sure he has everything in order."

"I heard there was trouble in One."

"They've lost about three-quarters of those who went to Eight. It's hit them hard. The Academy and the wider district. There will be riots in the street any day now. Gloss has had to deal with a lot of push-back, even from within our camp."

"I saw a Goldsmith listed on their dead."

"Yes, Cashmere and her husband have lost a nephew, Theodore a cousin. But between them, they managed to defend Gloss and save face. Their words carry a lot of weight when they've lost someone. Gem had to step in too. She could see it getting out of hand."

"Poor Gem dragged out of retirement."

"She's made clear that she's still available if we need her. She's helping with One's compensation too. The rebels have deep pockets now."

"I'm sure they do. I'm rather jealous. It will be our own money that goes towards the families. Marcus will get some of the senior peacekeepers from Two to donate but we'll provide most of the funds."

"At least there's twelve of you."

"I know. We can split the bill and it's not like we're short of money ourselves."

"There are some perks to this life, Lyme."

"I know. It's about using them wisely."

"What's next?"

"We make sure Two stages its first protest in years. That will be enough to twist Malachite's arm. He's spoken to me a few times. I think he's been questioning everything for a while. When I found that out, I stepped back. I want to let him realise on his own. It was what he was doing anyway, there was no need for me to interfere. Seeing Marcus as he is had an impact, so the more time they spend together the better."

"Will they get to Remus?"

Lyme laughed, "Remus' head is so far in the sand he's probably lost it. He lives in his own world, which I'm sure must be lovely, where everyone is happy, calm and not rebelling at all. He likes his life and doesn't want the disruption."

"I can't say I'd have the patience for that."

"I don't. I stay away. He's Brutus' problem. He's the mentor."

"What will he do when the Capitol turns on itself? They're unhappy about their losses in Eight too. It's starting to turn ugly. There's only so long protest can be censored."

"We haven't had any happy Capitol news in a while, only reruns of old news items so I took that as a sign. Remus hasn't noticed. If anything does get through, he'll be confused for a few minutes before putting it to the back of his mind."

"It must be nice for things to be so simple," Finnick sighed.

"I'm sure it is. But once you open your eyes you can't close them. I think that's why he doesn't turn his mind to what's happening."

….

Halley had noted the slowdown in the news cycle and the sudden choice to re-run old good news stories and popular dramas. She had been asked to put together a bonus episode of her science show which she was working on with Stella. The Capitol wanted to distract its young minds from the fates of their school friends.

Plutarch had reported back and told her he was fanning the flames. It was easy in government because it was all everybody could talk about. The Capitol had been shot down and they were at a loss. They had lost their own on the streets and in the factories of District Eight. Their small batch of conscripts, President Elda's concession to Commander Thread, had been butchered. But the loss of the President's middle-class volunteers stung the leadership the most.

Their parents were angry. Many of them were relatively wealthy, working professional jobs. Their sons and daughters gave up stability to be sacrificed in the districts. Nobody listened to the conscripts' parents, but the Capitol had to pay more attention to the parents of their brave volunteers who answered the President's call.

Plutarch had confirmed that the issue remained a sticking point. Calico, in her first run as Eight's rebel leader, was on the verge of causing collapse in the Capitol. They would have to be ready.

As a result, Halley stepped up her efforts and ordered Beetee to increase his weapon production. Wiress began another test run of some of the muttations she hoped to deploy at peacekeeper barracks, and Orion and Stella were sent on recruitment missions. There could not be a corner of District Three left with no rebel presence. Their people had to be everywhere and their control of every aspect of Three beyond doubt.

Halley confirmed to Finnick that if the call came, Three would be ready. They would follow Four without hesitation. The victors and the Mayor's household completed a test run of their evacuation to Halley's bunker. She was delighted that her and Orion's work was met with enthusiasm and that it would meet their requirements during the tricky times to come.

The victors had all increased their orders of various tinned goods and pre-prepared meals from the Capitol, claiming to be concerned at the reports of disruption. With Halley's success in the Games, there were more mouths to feed when in hiding and supply lines to maintain across Three to ensure their people were fed.

As a collective, Three's victors were trying to think of every eventuality. They were quietly distributing weapons both ordered in and made in Beetee and Wiress' factory. Their people were on standby, and they would likely follow in Eight's footsteps soon enough. When the Capitol inevitably retaliated, they could not afford for their secrets to be shared. They needed to ensure their secrecy as a priority.

They were organising their finances too. Enough money had to be circulating in Three to meet their needs without attracting suspicion in the Capitol. Beetee had started to draw on the generous retirement fund he had built up from years of working for the Capitol and nobody would question an ageing victor drawing down on a pension. Wiress and Halley could always rely on never being questioned for their stranger purchases and cash withdrawals, so they steadily increased their spending patterns and hoped to avoid questions.

Orion and Stella were more difficult. Orion's investments were growing so he could only draw on his cash reserve under the guises of paying for additional labour on his supposed extension and renovation projects. Stella's funds were only just being invested so she tried to rely on making charitable donations to Three's university to fund her and her friend's weapons projects.

Along with their Mayor, Three's victors had decided they would have to do without District Thirteen. If they were not going to provide weapons, they would have to make them themselves. It would not be enough to have the guns Beetee's men were making on the sly. They needed something more.

Using the Games as inspiration, they had secretly started to develop their drones several years ago. But Stella's interest in the project meant they had taken steps forward. Yet their work was on a small scale. It had to be to avoid attracting unwanted attention. Luckily, Stella was energised and carried that through to her new friends. She had brought with her finances from her growing pot plus a surplus from Halley's funds. The student researchers now had the resources to grow their programmes and test new ideas.

Under the disguise of retirement, Beetee was also providing support from home. He had told the Capitol he was taking a step back due to growing tired. He would not be on hand to redevelop all the products they wanted from him. Instead, he was readying himself and a small team for a hack on the Capitol's systems. He had designed their signal defence systems and had sole access to the upgrades he had created. He knew his way through the system and would pave the way for the rebels to broadcast their messages.

It would be for Finnick to decide when they made their move, together as a nation. Halley and their Mayor had the final say on action confined to the district, but everyone knew Halley would not let Three act alone. District Eight had shown that the way forward was to split the Capitol's resources and the next time the rebels surged forward, there was to be a concerted effort to combine forces.

The Capitol had been exposed and Three's victors knew they were strong and growing stronger by the day. It was only a matter of time before their efforts came to fruition.

….

Bram knew that Poppy was involved in something beyond District Six. He suspected that Cameron and his family were involved too. Poppy and Cameron's bond was established but Bram knew that he could read his mentor like nobody else in the Village. He was perceptive so Poppy never had to disclose any details, he knew where her feelings lay and could guess at what exactly she was caught up in. But he would not question it. He had far too much respect for her. He also knew she could be formidable and was not someone he would like to cross.

He did not mind whether Poppy was a rebel. It was probably the right thing to do. But Bram was just over two years out from his Games and still seventeen. He had only recently started to feel like his head was together and stable enough to put his mind to morality and the rights and many wrongs of Panem.

Poppy and Cameron had not asked him to be involved. They wanted to protect him. But Bram wanted them to start seeing him as an adult. He was plagued by nightmares still, but he knew Cameron had many rough nights and it was obvious from how often Poppy's lights remained switched on that she barely slept. He was not the only victor in the district still suffering from the Games, he just happened to be the youngest.

Two years had been sufficient time for his relationship with his family to shift. His parents still wanted to protect him, but they did not know how. He had seen more of Panem than they had. He had access to more of the district than they did, and he was the one the peacekeepers were interested in. His siblings had gradually become irritated at the isolation of life in the Victors' Village and the presence of peacekeepers over their shoulders whenever they left the house with Bram. He had become a shackle, holding them back from breaking into their own lives.

He knew his parents were scared. Bram watched how they glanced over their shoulders whenever they were in Six's centre and how they still scrambled to stay out of the way of the peacekeepers. He knew that their upward mobility in the district had not rid them of their deference to authority.

Cameron clearly had no respect for authority and whilst Poppy was quieter in her approach, Bram knew she did not either. They occupied the Village and their space in District Six with ease and confidence. He wanted the same for his family but did not know how they would get there.

He loved them and wanted them to embrace the positives and let Poppy deal with the negatives of living alongside him. She had made clear she was willing to step in and take on any problems Bram had so his parents were spared from sharing in their son's nightmares and horrors. She had enough of her own problems that someone else's would not be quite so traumatic.

It hurt Bram that he loved his parents so much because he knew he was going to have to betray them. They lived a quiet life. They were not rebels. Poppy was a rebel and Cameron too, so that made Bram a rebel by default. His family were likely guilty by association, so he had guessed that knowledge was why they were doing what they were.

He started to think something was different a matter of weeks after returning from the Ninety-Fourth Games. The Capitol was paranoid and at first, Bram thought the shift in his parents' behaviour was because the Capitol's attitude was filtering into the district.

They were keen to speak to Poppy, more so than before. Then they started to accompany her into town. Bram sometimes went with them, and he realised how observant they were. Whether it was his mother or father, they studied Poppy's every move and who she interacted with.

Initially, he put it down to them wanting to embrace their new life more. Bram had spoken to them, and he thought they had listened. But then he remembered he was their youngest son, victor or not and they would do what they thought best to protect him and his family.

Bram realised that meant spying on Poppy. So, he took to spying on them too. He watched them as they watched Poppy leave the house. When Poppy left the house and they followed, Bram gave them a head start and set out on his own. If they went out together, he would watch them watching Poppy.

The next task was finding out who they were reporting to, but that proved more difficult. He could spy on his parents as they looked at Poppy through the window whilst writing in his journal. Nobody suspected him at all. But following them to an underhand meeting was something else.

He supposed they were reporting to a peacekeeper or official from the Justice Building but they rarely seemed to meet anybody. Bram then supposed they were passing messages and notes but that meant their communications were open to being tampered with. Their suspicions about Poppy could be cast far and wide. Alternatively, someone in Poppy's camp could be intercepting their messages. Different possibilities were crossing his mind, and he did not know what to believe or where to take his enquiries.

Bram was torn. He loved his parents, and he could only imagine that they had been threatened or coerced into doing what they thought was the right thing to protect the family. But Bram was a victor, even though he was only seventeen. He saw no advantages to spying on Poppy. They would only be caught up in whatever they managed to reveal. It would not end how they imagined and certainly not for him. Bram was desperate to hold on to the self-preservation that got him through the arena. He was a victor after all.

He knew he would have to try to stop his parents or forewarn Poppy, but the damage might have already been done. It was the first real moral quandary of his time as a victor. He loved his parents but was loyal to Poppy. If Poppy was brought down, his fate was tied to her. If Poppy succeeded, he was more likely to stay alive. With him alive, his parents would be more likely to stay alive. They wanted to protect him, but Bram knew he was the most able to protect them.

….

"Did we bring you any trouble in Twelve?" Calico asked.

"It didn't make its way here," Peeta replied.

"Well, that's something."

"I thought you wanted it to spread. It caught on in Eight and look where you ended up. Instead, you sound relieved."

"I have had to apologise to so many people. Finn for losing their people, Lyme for losing hers' and Gloss for the mess he found himself in. Then Halley and Poppy for good measure, because we lost control."

"I doubt Halley and Poppy minded. They would have been impressed. They should have been. It worked. Look at how badly it went for the Capitol. They've been completely exposed."

"I thought they might retaliate. We know the order on Twelve hasn't been rescinded. If they want to send a message, they'll go for Twelve."

"We know that too. Well, everyone I've told knows. The rest, we had to tell them to pack a bag ready to leave without telling them why."

"You thought something might happen?"

"It would have been foolish not to prepare for the worst. It's people's lives the Capitol toy with. I'm aware enough to know we have to do that too."

"I didn't expect to hate that part so much. But somehow, it's worse because I got good, loyal people killed."

"Finnick and Noah at least would have warned them."

"Doesn't mean they're any less dead."

"It doesn't, but you've set us up well. Their loss has spurred people on. The divide is growing in the Capitol and Elda is vulnerable."

"Halley thinks Thread will make a challenge."

"Haymitch does too. We might get to watch them destroy themselves."

"Let's not get too hopeful. The Capitol always has something to fight back with."

"At our expense."

"Like everything. It's always the same old Capitol. It doesn't matter who is in charge."

"Well, they're ignoring us. Even the peacekeepers don't seem phased. Katniss, Haymitch and I have free reign over Twelve. We've got lots of footage for whenever Beetee is ready."

"Glad to hear it. Hopefully, they're being lenient with your people."

"The peacekeepers don't care anymore. A leadership change might make them, and that gets me worried. But nothing we've done phases them. Haymitch picks deliveries up from the train and they just let him, thinking it's all drink."

"More fool them."

"They can't be bothered. They've been told to leave us alone. It's proving to the Capitol they don't need Twelve so they can claim it's not a big loss when they destroy us."

"It will be a loss. Small or not, it's District Twelve. You're our neighbours."

"I appreciate the sentiment. It's a double-edged sword. We can get on and run free, at least in the Village and certain corners of the merchant district, but it also gives the Capitol weight behind their argument to get rid of us. Nobody has even questioned the Mayor about the falling birth rate. There's fewer of us and they don't care."

"Surely that goes against the trend. The merchants I can understand having fewer children but in the seam?"

"We're not only dealing in guns. The Village does a roaring trade in contraception," Peeta laughed. "It's calculated. People don't want more than two children; some people don't want children at all. We're giving them freedom. The kids they have can be slightly better fed. And if we do have to evacuate, there are fewer small children to carry. I'm trying to save as many people as we can."

"It's a take on leadership I never thought I'd have to deal with. It's a bold move."

"Potentially it increases each kid's risk at the Reaping, but we all know those born today won't be standing in that square facing the Games. And with the Capitol ignoring us they can't mind that much."

"Just be careful, Peeta."

"You're the one telling me that!"

"I know, I know. But it's the Capitol. We know what they're like. Have you told many people about the order to destroy Twelve?"

"Everyone in my circle knows. We'll tell people when we have an evacuation plan finalised, that way we can try to minimise the panic."

"You're good at this."

Peeta sighed, "I'm just trying my best."

"I suppose we all are. We know what's coming. I want it to be over. Part of me looks forward to the fight. I don't want to send people to die at my request without being involved myself. But now I've dealt with the consequences I know it's more complex. People will die regardless, I'm hardly naïve, I've grown up with it. But being the one who makes the decisions makes it something else entirely."

"I understand. We all do. But we've both been chosen for a reason. People trust us or else they would have picked someone else."

"I know. So, it's on us to make the right decisions."

"I have your back, Calico."

"And you have mine, Peeta".